Why let the Big D have all the attention on the rash front? That is apparently what the Toddler was thinking, as Saturday evening he developed one of his very own....of course also feeling the need to one up little brother.
I noticed he had been itching the back of his neck, so I went to check for an errant tag. Instead I discovered some red nastiness going on. On further inspection he had a rash covering his upper back and chest, it was slightly raised. I recently had pinned
7 Rashes in Children from pinterest and thought I would give it a once over.
The rash didn't really fit, but the advice was to look to the child. If he is acting sick take him in, if he isn't acting sick wait it out. Other than catching him scratch, he seemed fine. So I decided to try out the wait it out route. I had some Aveeno Eczema/Anti Itching cream and put some on. Instantly he felt better.
That night the little stinker grabbed my hand (at about 8:15) and said lets go to sleep mommy. Intrigued by him wanting to put himself to bed I was all for it. He led me into my room and crawled up on my bed "Sleep wiff me mommy?" I had figured he would fall asleep and I would sneak back out and finish up some projects...but by the time Mr. Chatty wound down I think I had fallen asleep first. Unfortunately not a lot of sleep was to be had.
Sleep Problem #1He sleeps like I do, he crowds his partner and pushes them to the edge. With the tri-fecta attack of cuddles, kicking, and pillow pushing. I ended up being afraid one more kick would send me over the edge of the bed.
Sleep Problem #2The itching got worse. He would wake up crying. I would have him snuggle in and gently rub all over his back, giving some relief to the itching and trying not to aggravate the rash. He would fall asleep and the cycle would continue. I rubbed some more cream on it and finally gave up on sleep at 4:30am. I moved to the couch and until I heard the Big D up for the day.
I felt like I was scrambling, but apparently was moving at a snails pace getting the boys corralled and ready for church.
Definition of embarrassment: Living directly across the street from the church and still walking in late for mass. I made breakfast for the boys and debated putting them down for naps immediately after church...and thought to myself its a shame starting to drink at 9am is frowned upon. By the time I shoveled some lunch down in the afternoon I began to discover that my anti-itch cream was no longer providing the Toddler any relief.
He requested a shower and I obliged. I do know that after a warm shower most rashes will look worse, due to the warm water making the blood flow more...so I tried to keep it on the cool side. Even so, after the shower it was evident the rash was spreading. When drying him off I thought it looked like the bumps were turning into blisters. So I called my MIL to watch the Big D and took off for Urgent Care/ER in the big city (why must the boys always have issues on weekends?) I was a little too zealous to get him in to be seen, at this point I was thinking maybe it was Chicken Pox, and I got pulled over for doing 81 in a 70. The HP was painfully thorough.
HP:Your license says you were corrective lenses, are you wearing contacts? {removing his sunglasses}
Me: Yes sir (as he stares me down, I was about ready to pop one out to prove it if it made him feel better)
HP: I can't even tell anymore
HP: Your registration is current, but you haven't put your sticker on your plate. The sticker on the plate says March 2012, but your registration is through March 2013. I'm giving you a warning on that, because you don't have the sticker on your plate.....but your registration is current.
Me: Yes sir (I stuck with that because anything would come out snotty. I could also see I hadn't put my sticker on, it was still on the registration he was handing back to me)
HP: Nice hat young man
Toddler: Yeah, it my Daddy hat
Me: His dad got it for him after he deployed, he is a bit obsessed with it.
HP: {awkward silence...crickets chirping}
Me: I am taking him in because he has a rash that started spreading really fast, and I thought it might be chicken pox.
HP: I'm safe, I've had chicken pox before
Me: {alrighty then...more awkward silence...me wondering if I can go now}
Apparently I am not cute enough nor smooth enough to talk my way out of a ticket. I just can't bring myself to do the crying thing, and this was the first time I even thought about trying to get out of a ticket...not so much because of getting a ticket...but because I wanted to get to the hospital and get some relief for my little guy.
He did ticket me at 80 instead of 81, which he explained meant a $20 ticket instead of $40 and no points against me. So I thanked him and heeded his "watch your speed" parting words of wisdom. I have never been so happy to get back on the road.
During this whole deal is when the Toddler starts moaning, saying Owie mommy I hurt, and I need to go to doctor....whenever the cop went back to his car. You already have my sympathy kid...if you could have shared your concerns with the officer the stop might not have taken as long.
Finally at the hospital we get checked in and are diagnosed with....a Rash.
Really she wasn't sure what it was, looked like a few things but the entirety of the rash wasn't consistent with anything, and wasn't normal for the symptoms. What I thought were blisters she said were pustules. She said strep throat can cause something similar but he doesn't have strep, so she decided on calling it a staph infection of the skin and he will be on antibiotics three times a day for a week. So any number of things could have caused the rash, including allergies, but whatever did cause it...this kind of rash is not a typical reaction. Supper.
The drugs seem to be working though and today the Mystery Rash is much better. That is definitively worth it.
So so much better!
